Alleviating Alzheimer’s Suffering Through Music

Staffers at Cobble Hill Health Center in Brooklyn, NY, say that music soothes and improves the mood of people in the mid to late-stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.

This goes for all patients suffering from the disease, said Dan Cohen, the director of Music and Memory program:

“Actually, it does work, regardless of how advanced dementia is,” says Dan Cohen, the program’s executive director. “Music memory never dies. It’s deeply embedded in our neural networks and even though the brain has been ravaged to some degree, somehow, music escapes that.”

In some cases, the patients no longer are able to communicate and clever detective work must be done in order to find out what music he or she likes.

The project needs donations of new or used iPods. The Music and Memory project website is here.